Article from the Nov 2004 edition, the Socialist

Building for mass non-payment

THE 'WE Won't Pay' water charges message is now being taken into the communities. Campaign meetings have or are being held in many areas - Finaghy, Cregagh Road, Cregagh estate, Riverdale, Belvoir, Dromore, Omagh - to name but some.

Every day people are phoning or writing in to join the campaign and to start some work in their area.

The reports here from Omagh and the Cregagh district of Belfast are just examples of what is happening.

We need to maintain this momentum. To contact the campaign write to: Water Charges - We Won't Pay Campaign, 13 Lombard Street, Belfast BT1 1RB or call us on: 07743282321.

CREGAGH ROAD householders say "No to water charges". At a public meeting in the Woodstock Library, local residents voiced their anger at these exorbitant charges and joined the "We won't pay" campaign. At a stall that was held a few days earlier on the Cregagh Road, leaflets about the water charges were given out and very quickly a queue formed with people anxious to sign the "we won't pay" pledge. Following the meeting the next step in the campaign will be to set up a committee involving local representatives to organise further public meetings and take the campaign forward in that area.

IN OMAGH and surrounding areas we have seen an immense response to our door-to-door campaigning with nearly everyone supporting the campaign and many joining. For example, in one night 61 people signed up in a small area outside Omagh. This is just an example of the receptive and militant mood that exists in the area.

The mood in these communities is that the New Labour Government has betrayed them and the local politicians will do nothing to help them. This leaves our campaign as the only effective organisation in place to fight the charges.

Visit the site of the We Won't Pay Campaign